I agree that's worth noting, and I'm not suggesting a literal revival of the fairness doctrine, just noting that there are past precedents for regulating speech in the public interest. You're no doubt right that it would run into legal difficulty, and actually the corporatist supreme court would be expected, amusingly enough, to side with the illiberal left on this issue.
This is a canard though:
> Since the internet is pretty wide open, again anyone can make a website if they want, it's hard to justify compelling a platform to host content.
Anyone can make a website that no one reads, but not anyone can make a public square. As I said above, the alternatives are choked out by network effects, so the internet is not "pretty wide open" in any way that counts for public debate. It used to be, but that was before it consolidated into an oligopoly. That is why the public interest and free speech questions necessarily shift to these platforms. In the world we now live in, it's distracting to offer the prospect of "anyone can make a website" as if it were a realistic alternative.
This is a canard though:
> Since the internet is pretty wide open, again anyone can make a website if they want, it's hard to justify compelling a platform to host content.
Anyone can make a website that no one reads, but not anyone can make a public square. As I said above, the alternatives are choked out by network effects, so the internet is not "pretty wide open" in any way that counts for public debate. It used to be, but that was before it consolidated into an oligopoly. That is why the public interest and free speech questions necessarily shift to these platforms. In the world we now live in, it's distracting to offer the prospect of "anyone can make a website" as if it were a realistic alternative.